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The Governor's proposed 2012-13 budget calls for a $3 billion reduction in total appropriations. Key to achieving a reduction of this magnitude is a cut of more than $2 billion to the perennially targeted Medicaid program. But only about one-fifth of the funds "saved" would be state general revenue dollars. In fact, the majority of the reduction ($1.2 billion) would be lost federal matching dollars. The proposed cuts would be detrimental to both Florida and Floridians, undermining the already strained Medicaid system, imperiling access to care for the sickest, and siphoning off Florida's share of federal tax dollars out of the economy. > Read the report. |
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When the 2012 legislative session opens Tuesday, the Governor and legislative majorities will begin action based on their perceptions about the needs of the state. This report shows the reality of the condition of Florida by the numbers: high poverty, high unemployment, a low percentage of the jobless receiving unemployment insurance benefits, income inequality, and an inadequate, unfair tax structure. > Read the report. |
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Five years of Florida's controversial Medicaid Reform experiment in managed care are already in the books. From the outset, permission to operate Reform was contingent upon the state's promise that access would be protected, as confirmed through ongoing analysis of patient-level "encounter data". Yet that data and any meaningful programmatic analysis of it remain inexplicably unavailable. But alternative sources of data corroborate the mounting anecdotal reports of problems with access in Reform. In light of the vulnerability of Medicaid recipients and the barriers to access to care they face generally, these findings warrant suspension of efforts to expand and extend Florida's particular Medicaid managed care experiment to new areas and additional patient groups, pending further analysis. >Read the report. |
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Eight large corporations headquartered in Florida paid less than 4 percent of their profits in state corporate income taxes over the last three years, according to a new study that shows that 265 Fortune 500 companies paid state taxes on only half of their profits. These are among the findings in "Corporate Tax Dodging in the Fifty States, 2008-2010," released today by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) and Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) in conjunction with the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy. Included are recommendations about how to minimize avoidance of Florida’s corporate income tax. >Read the press release and the report. |
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“The role corporations play in American economics and politics is changing. Unfortunately, the changes are negative and pose serious threats to our society, our security, and our overall standard of living,” writes FCFEP Chair Nelson Easterling. “There is clearly a growing schism between reality and the supporters of corporate power. Proponents of corporate power seem to think that the market and corporations are somehow better than real people. “Every corporation is the creation of a government. Every corporation exists only because the people have authorized their representatives to define and delimit their existence. Corporations are, therefore, created to be the servants of the sovereign people, not their masters.” > Read the Chair’s Perspective. |
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Current laws and practices of Florida's economic development agencies prevent taxpayers and even the legislature from knowing whether the state gets its money's worth from job subsidies and tax breaks. Economic development subsidies escape the kind of accountability that the legislature requires of public schools and social safety net programs. To establish accountability and transparency, the legislature could adopt reforms to increase confidence in the expenditure of limited tax dollars. Furthermore, state laws that extend a variety of special tax benefits to some businesses, but not all, undermine the fairness of the state's tax structure. They also reduce revenue that could be used to meet critical needs like education and health care. Those defects could be remedied by adopting additional reforms recommended in this FCFEP report. > Read the report. |
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Florida provides more than $4 billion to business through the state budget and tax laws each year, with little or no examination or review. Before even more breaks are enacted, as proposed by the governor and business organizations, the public interest would be served through an open, transparent assessment of current benefits. Accountability is a mantra of state leaders when applied to teachers, whose salaries are now tied to students' test results, and public employees, whose names and salaries are available on the governor's website. Yet no equivalent accountability mechanisms exist for the billions of tax dollars devoted each year to businesses. Understanding current breaks given to business is necessary to determine whether corporations and other profitable businesses pay their fair share for the public infrastructure critical to ensuring that Florida is a good place to live and conduct business. >Read the report. |
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With key components of the Affordable Care Act taking effect by January 2014, refusal by Florida's elected leadership to move forward with any aspect of ACA implementation has already left the state "a lap behind" with respect to completion of the basic tasks. Only 26 of the original 45 months of the implementation "race" remain, and Florida has yet to start its engine. Leaders' actions aim to thwart access by Florida's families and small businesses to billions in Florida's rightful share of federal tax dollars that would provide affordable, meaningful coverage for many who lack it, while strengthening and protecting coverage for those who already have it. > Read the report. |
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Tax incentives designed as economic development tools do not work. But they are not only failures in that regard; they are actually destructive forces in the economy. Their failure is proved by the lack of jobs that have been created and the costs associated with their enactment. The simple fact is they do not CREATE jobs. At best, they simply move them from one state or locale to another. And if Florida can induce a company to relocate a job here, another state can induce another company to move a job there. It is at best a zero sum game. For us. But it is not a zero sum game for the corporations. These tax incentives should be seen for what they really are: another tool for redistributing income and wealth upwards. > Read the Chair’s Perspective. |
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